"Mexico is not convenient" An ex-pat friend said that to me the other night and it keeps echoing in my head. It's true, it just isn't as easy to do most things as it is in your home country. I don't think it is just a function of language, there just aren't as many of the ways we are used to that make things easier. For instance, I miss a valid, up to date, yellow pages. Finding a place to do or fix or buy something is a much more complicated process here. I'm not really complaining, just explaining.

This is why things like buying the extensions for a fan are a much more complicated and time consuming experience. I spent a lot of time on the fan extensions last week. Fans we bought in Mérida but couldn't get the extensions because they didn't have them. Easy, I thought, I'll just get them on the coast. Yeah! Sure! I went to every fan store I could find in Playa and no joy. Then I found the receipt from the purchase in Mérida and found the phone number for their store in Cancun. I called them every day for a week. No, they didn't have them now, maybe they could get them, I will call you back right away. No return calls, ever. What she said in spanish was that she would call me back in 'un ratito'. Finally, after privately naming the woman I talked to every day Sra. Ratito - ratito (little rat) means in a minute here - she told me to come to the store on Wednesday at 3pm.

I can't even begin to explain how hard it was to find this store. We were never lost in the sense that we always knew where we were but we couldn't find the street that contained the mall that contained the store. Finally, I called them again from the CostCo parking lot. I didn't get Sra Ratito but another guy who knew exactly who I was and what I wanted. He responded to my request for directions by telling me that they didn't have the part yet, maybe tomorrow. Oh no! I'm not going away that easily, I just drove almost an hour from Akumal to Cancun.

I told him I wanted to come by anyway to show them what we needed and make sure that the part they were looking for was the one we needed. They told me the name of the street that the mall was on and said it was only a few blocks from CostCo. Off we went... first we saw a sign that had the name of the street we wanted on it - it pointed ahead. When we got to the next intersection there was only a sign with the name of another street pointing to the right. Oh Please! No signs on the street itself at all. After a couple of U turns in heavy traffic, I went that way anyway... and after a long ways, still no street sign or a mall. Another U turn. Mimi and I are now getting testy with each other about where this damn place is. Finally, after pulling over and looking at the map and deciding that this just had to be the street, despite the sign for another street, I made another U turn and low and behold about a mile later the mall appeared. Hey! This was not so bad.

Once there, they seemed very unhappy that they did not have the part and that they couldn't get it. Finally, the guy there made a phone call and said if we waited they would get the part. Here's where the good part of Mexico appears. I think that they just don't have the part available but they didn't want to leave me at a loss so they went to another store and found something that would work. I am appreciative of this, the parts do work, but I was not so thrilled that they didn't tell me this in the first place a week ago. Still, the whole process did eventually work. Someone appeared with a bag and the parts and they only cost me about $8us although they pointed out that I needed to make sure they fit as they could not guarantee them and I couldn't return them.

So, the bottom line is that I got the parts, they were cheap, but no one was willing to tell me that they didn't have them and give me a clue where else I could find them until I showed up and they couldn't avoid the problem. Even then, they just went out and bought them somewhere else rather than just copping that they didn't have it and sending me somewhere else LAST WEEK!!!!

I wanted to put up this picture of all 4 of us on the deck before the kids left. It's one of the best ones I've seen, probably because most of me is hiding behind Mimi.

We've been futzing around today and we're about to go to Playa to do laundry and look for thread. I brought some Sunbrella fabric down from the US where it is cheaper and want to redo the banco. Supposedly they are coming next Monday to raise the banco and the shelf behind it. We are also looking for tiles for the shelf. All of this has to be done by the 15th of Dec when the place is rented. Our friends and family get to see it in progress :)

This is a picture of Mimi being the environmentalist I love. She spotted some fishing net wrapped around a bunch of plastic bottles and seaweed out in the water and went out and got it so it wouldn't wrap around a turtle or a seabird and drown it.

The amount of plastic that washes up on beaches here is horrendous. I imagine that some comes from ships but much of it comes from people just dumping their garbage in the ocean or in a cenote that flows into the ocean.

Another mandatory dog pic. Cuba is doing really well and the 3 of them are bonding and getting along great. Even Chica has accepted Cuba as part of the pack now and doesn't snap at her near as often. Cuba now sits and waits for her food instead of jumping up and going nuts, she sits on command and doesn't pull the leash as much when we're out walking. She's not as frightened as she was, but she has a long ways to go to be secure. Oh, and her bark has gotten very deep and scary sounding, not the squeaky squeal that she had at first. Can ya tell she loves being a spoiled bed dog?

It's been a lazy Sunday, the kids left this morning and I've been catching up on my favorite blogs and sitting in the sun. Cancun Canuck had a post about Thanksgiving that reminded me that there are so many things I am grateful for in my life.

• My son and his lovely wife give me great joy. It is truly a blessing to have kids that you like as adults and enjoy as friends. Thank you Dupre and Ginny!


• My wonderful Mimi. She has put up with me and taken care of me for 16+ years and she is still a hell of a lot of fun to be with. Life would not be worth it without her, we laugh about our reclusiveness but we have so much fun together that we forget to include others sometimes. There is no greater joy than taking off down an unknown road with just Mimi, knowing we will have fun and adventures and that there is no bad road except one without her.


• Friends. What a comfort they are and what joy and satisfaction they bring to my life. I cherish the ones I've had for a long time and I relish the ones that are new. Friendship and chosen family is so very important to me. I wasn't particularly fond of the family I was born into so once I was able to leave home I quickly started building my own, chosen family. I guess it is true that some are here for a reason or a season and losing those has been painful at times. The ones that are here for the long haul though have more than made up for it.


• I really love my life, and the funny thing is I think I could have said that most of the time in the past. I've led so many different lives and I've enjoyed all of them. Of them all, I always think the one I'm in now is the best, and that too is a gift. Seriously though, how could I not be thankful for a life that lets me travel wherever I feel like going, lets me spend most of my time in shorts, on a beautiful beach or gorgeous historical city. Damn! Life really is good.


• I am grateful for the genes that keep me pretty healthy in spite of everything I've done and not done to deserve it. Knocking on wood about that one.


• The love of good dogs and cats and birds has added enormously to my life. There is nothing that can raise your mood like a dog laying beside you or a cat purring on your chest. Even a macaw kiss is a great joy.

How could you not love living somewhere that the maid makes you little eskimos out of towels?

What a great week! Dupre & Ginny were here and it was wonderful getting to spend so much time with them. I know it is hard to take time off when you are young and involved in your career, I just love having them here and it's so nice that they could come down.

My son Dupre works in IT and has far surpassed the geek skills of his mother. I had to admit to him that I had never reinstalled the system on my pc and that I had been living with it sort of limping along and with a disk format that I really didn't like. All this because I was hesitant to take the plunge and find everything I would need to start over. He laughed and said 'let's just do it' and do it he did. Mimi told me that at one point he leaned over and whispered to her that he was the only one who could do this because if everything went bad, I couldn't stay mad at him. He's right, as usual.

I was panicked at first, my virtual self was going to be overwritten with 1's and 0's and would I ever reappear? It took a few days, lots to copy and backup and then lots of updates to download. To avoid being FAP'd by the satellite internet, we put my little Sony Vaio by the window in the back of the condo where we can pick up the wireless signal from the condo office. It took all one night just to download the XP updates. Other delays involved beach time, snorkeling, dinners out, shopping trips to Tulum, but it got done. I'm still reconfiguring stuff and I haven't found the passwords for a couple of small programs I bought but mainly, I'm alive on the net again! Thanks son, it is definitely working better and is a lot snappier too.

The weather was good and bad, it has been raining more than usual and several nortes have gone through with cool weather and low humidity. I love when we can watch a storm coming across the sea. Often with lightening flashing in the clouds and the sea boiling where the rain hits it. Incredible! Especially when you are still sitting in the warm sun watching it approach.

We've got 3 days to work on the condo and for me to get my computer arranged how I like it, then our friends arrive for a couple weeks. More fun and traveling, we're looking forward to it.

It's been a whirlwind since we got back to Akumal. We got to have dinner with our downstairs neighbors our first night and then they left for Canada. We ended the evening at the local beach bar on Karaoke night! It was pretty slow by the time we got there but I think it was even funnier, late in the evening = more drunk = funnier!

The only remaining palm tree in front of our deck died from hurricane Dean. They haven't taken it down yet, you can see it here. The previous ones died from hurricane Wilma. More are planted but for now, we have a really unobstructed view of the water. It's kind of nice.

We had new tile put in this fall and the floor raised about 6 inches. That has created all kinds of other problems which I'll get to. First though, I love the new tile. No more white tile!

The floor was raised because the deck was raised before we bought the condo and it was higher than the living room. During hurricanes and even just heavy rain, water poured in under the sliding glass doors. Now, the living room is a little higher than the deck and water no longer comes in. That's good.

Not so good is that the banco or built in concrete sofa, is only a couple inches off the floor. It makes a great dog bed but not so good for humans. Also, the stairs up to the bedrooms were not done so we are in the process of getting that finished. The front door had to be cut down and now you step up into the condo from outside.

This is how we were getting to the bedroom while they were working on the steps.

The kitchen cabinets were removed, supposedly to be cut down and replaced. But no, someone thought they were being trashed and took them home. I'm not wanting to spend a lot for new wood cabinets when I intend to rip out the kitchen next fall and redo it. So, I went to WalMart and Sam's and bought plastic drawers and put those under the counters. Yesterday I picked out some fabric and I'm having curtains made to cover the openings. Oh, and the counters? They reach about mid-thigh on me and even the very short Mayan maid has to bend over to wash dishes in the sink.

Theresa, ¿What do I do all day?, is a woman who lives in Mérida and has just started blogging. I think her blog is great, she has a voice that comes through well in her writing. She tagged me with a bloggers game. Here are the rules:

There are a few rules one must follow to play the game. When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to eight other people.

So, here are 8 random things about me.

• I went to a 2 room school from 1st to 4th grade.
  
  
• I hate admitting that I am asleep. If someone comes to the door or if I'm late I will make up a story rather than admit I was sleeping.
  
  
• I won't eat anything that could climb an aquarium wall, ie if when alive it can stick to glass I'm not eating it. Actually, I have an arbitrary mental thing about food, if I don't like the idea of it then it could taste like chocolate and I wouldn't eat it.
  
  
• I'm an Aquarius with Gemini rising, does that explain it?
  
  
• I've voted for Dianne Feinstein in every election she has run in, starting with her first run for the SF Board of Supervisors.
  
  
• I named my son after a 1950's do-wap song called Betty and Dupre
  
  
• Sappy WWII movies make me cry, especially if they have bombers flying.
  
  
• I can't ignore a TV that is on, I'm riveted on it until it is off, commercials, horrible shows, whatever. It's better if the sound is off, so I often watch TV with the sound off so it doesn't mesmerize me.
  

These are blogs I check every day hoping for new posts, so I'm tagging them.

BillieBlog

Hell's Half Acre

Isla Mujeres: Gringo in Paradise

Countdown to Mexico

1st Mate

Brenda and Roy Going to Mexico

A Canuck in Cancun

Travels with Mary & Elaine

OK, now I have to go and let them know they are TAGGED!

OMG! Theresa has tagged me, I will have to do the post tomorrow. We are packing up now to go to Akumal, the plug will be pulled on my sat internet soon.

We spent the morning at the house with Henry, walking off the kitchen design. I'm much happier now, as we will be using the entire room. It will make it farther between things like the refrigerator and the stove but it allows the island to fit between doors into the kitchen instead of in front of one. It means the view from the front door and from the living room is uninterrupted all the way back to the garden.

Mimi and I have been taking pictures of the old walls and gates that will be gone soon. I may try and print some of them in a large size.

Argh! I just lost several paragraphs I'd written. I'm not all that thrilled with Blogger's new 'feature' of autosaving. If it hadn't done that I could have reverted and gotten them back. Oh well.

Here's a pic of Cuba sitting on top of Chica. I think Chica is just trying to pretend that this huge dog isn't really here and certainly isn't sitting on her.

Well, whatever I was going to say is gone and I really have to help Mimi pack up so we can get out of here. Next post from Akumal...

Met again with the architect today, I have to talk about how much I like this guy. You have to like the person that you are trusting to build your dream house. This guy is someone that I really, really like. I want to be his friend, I hope that when this is done we will be friends. It's an intimate relationship, you're describing how you live in your home, how you see the most important environment in your life. They have to understand you and you have to trust that they do understand.

I guess I should use his name since I'm raving about him and there may be someone out there who is looking for an architect in Merida. Henry Ponce, that's the guy. He has vision, he has empathy, he has strong moral convictions that equate to treating his workers fairly and, for me, that is as important as any other part of this project. In addition, he is a great designer and has a lot of knowledge and respect for the traditional design features of the Yucatan. I think the highest praise I can give him is to say that he is an honorable man with incredible vision.

Friday night we went to an art opening at a house Henry has just completed. It has the water feature in the hallway that I fell in love with. Tonight we talked about how I want to change it and what I want to do with it. I see an indoor pond, an aquarium of sorts, that is open to the sky and a part of the hall. I can design a filter system that will keep it clean and healthy and I want to fill it with schools of brightly colored tropical fish. If I live in such a beautiful, tropical location then I should have aquarium fish in my hall floor, doncha think?

Meanwhile, here on the island, life goes on. Mimi flew across the country to Puerto Vallarta a couple days ago. I'm doing ok on my own. Saturday, I went to the Oktoburfest at the convention center near here. I've always found it difficult to go out to eat by myself. I don't have any problem traveling alone or doing anything else but sitting down and eating somewhere is hard, especially in this land of family togetherness where you hardly ever see anyone alone. I made myself go and walk around, there was an oomp-ah band and stands with sausage and sauerkraut and booths with Corona beer. Darn, no German beer. I got a plate and a beer and sat and ate. OK, I did it and I'm proud of myself but I can't say I really enjoyed it.

I'm sorry that I can't regale you with pictures and stories from the Day of the Dead. We kind of ignored it. Mimi was getting ready to leave, we had bought some tiles from another couple who are finishing their renovation and we had to pick them up and we spent every morning taking the truck to the mechanic and not getting in. He's a busy guy, which I think bodes well for his abilities. We'll find out, we finally got the truck in and I'm supposed to call him tomorrow to see when it will be done. I have no idea how I'm going to pick it up by myself but since it might not be ready yet I'm not worrying about it.

We spent more time standing around in the kitchen of the house trying to envision where I want things and how big they can be. I'm supposed to call Henry this week and meet him over there and walk it off with him. I've been shopping appliances, writing down model #s and dimensions and prices. The number of decisions is overwhelming if I think about them all, I have to just put one foot in front of the other and not look up at the whole project.

Disasters seem to be everywhere, I'll bet there are religious extremists quivering in excitement thinking the rapture is on the way. Me, I think that the planet is warming and these are things that we are going to be dealing with from now on. Fire, flood, drought, hurricane...

This week, there is a huge disaster in the state of Tabasco. Smaller or at least less publicized but related disasters are happening in the state of Chiapas and parts of Veracruz. Basically, all of the area highlighted in yellow is under water.

What caused the massive flooding and landslides is the incredible amount of rain that has inundated the isthmus of Mexico, mainly on the mountain slopes of Chiapas but those feed into rivers that have flooded almost the entire state of Tabasco. Normally, Tabasco is about 30% covered in water, it contains the mouths of hundreds of rivers that empty into the Gulf of Mexico and most of the state is at sea level or below. Some of these are huge rivers, the size of the Mississippi as it reaches the Gulf. Right now, somewhere between 70% and 80% of the state is underwater.

The capitol city of Villahermosa has over a meter of water (+3') across most of it. All highways through the area are flooded, many bridges are down, there is currently no way to drive to the Yucatan peninsula from the west or the north - from anywhere in Mexico. Half a million people are homeless, it has been almost a week and although there are enormous resources coming to their aid there are still people being rescued and many people with no food and no clean water. All of the crops in the entire state are gone.

It's hard to imagine the suffering, I read the Mexican newspapers and look at the pictures and I can barely believe the amount of devastation. Many of them places I've been, I recognize places in Villahermosa that we have stayed or driven past and I cannot believe how high the water is.

The Governor of Tabasco has compared this to hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans. A large, prosperous city completely underwater, dams and levees destroyed, access limited to boats and amphibian vehicles, enormous numbers of people sitting on roofs or wading away from their only home with whatever they can carry on their heads, looking for dry ground and food.

It's not a comparison that favors the US, while our govt waffled and ignored the plight of the people in New Orleans, Mexico has mobilized in an incredible show of organization and caring. Every state in the Republic is sending huge jets filled with water, food, and clothes. Every bank has an account for the victims and several of them are matching the donated funds peso for peso, the money is pouring in from all corners and all levels of society. Every large grocery store in the entire country has massive piles of water and food that people have bought when shopping for their own families and placed there to be taken to the people of Tabasco. These stores donate their employees to pack and transport the goods to the govt pickup points. The Mexican Red Cross, churches, and mainly the federal government are on the scene and have set up shelters and organized rescue searches.

Once again, the Mexican Army is proving that it is a force that serves the people of this country in ways that we find hard to believe. They are wading through the water carrying children and helping families, they are in boats and amphibious trucks and they are getting down and dirty to assist the people of Tabasco. No standing around and throwing water at people as we saw in New Orleans. I'm going to stop because the comparison is too horrible and it takes away from the heroic efforts that are being made here in Mexico.

Unfortunately, the waters will not recede soon. There is a storm system heading up from Belize towards the Chiapas highlands and the rivers will continue to rise. It could be a month before the water goes away. The government is already mobilizing medical assistance because there will be huge outbreaks of dengue, cholera and other diseases. Refugees are moving in huge numbers out of the area, the neighboring states of Campeche and Veracruz are making arrangements to take them in.

Here's a video from El Universal, a Mexico City newspaper. It's in spanish but if you don't understand spanish, the pictures are universal.

http://videos.eluniversal.com.mx/paginas/videosdet4458.html

The Yucatan, where we are, was separated from the rest of Mexico until sometime in the 20th century, there were no paved roads and the swamps and lowlands of Tabasco were impassable for much of the year. It's one of the reasons that there is such a strong connection here to Cuba and to the US, access was easier by boat than by land. Once again, we are an island connected only by air and by water.